


A Conversation in the Dark

by hiddencait



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Gen, spoilers through Season 2 Ep 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-09
Updated: 2015-02-09
Packaged: 2018-03-11 09:26:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3322322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiddencait/pseuds/hiddencait
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Melinda has doubts, and calls a friend for advice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Conversation in the Dark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mhalachai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mhalachai/gifts).



> This was possibly one of the hardest fics I've written in a while, though damned if I know why. I think I really enjoyed how it turned out though. A lot of that is thanks to *Name Redacted Until Reveals* who pulled off a fantastic beta that definitely made the final result 10 times better!
> 
> Hope you enjoy it Mhalachai!

Melinda laid awake and tried not to think about the expression on Skye’s face when she’d taken the shot and reported that Gill was assumed dead.

More accurately, Melinda was trying not to think about the _lack_ of expression. Skye’d been so carefully blank, allowing nothing of what she might have been feeling to show on her face. It was like looking in a mirror in the worst of ways.

Not for the first time, Melinda silently cursed Ward for his betrayal. For all his training had led to flirting more often than not, his style of mentorship had seemed far more in line with Skye’s own personality. Melinda knew she was not a mentor at heart. But with Ward in his cell and Coulson at his wall, she was the only one left to take Skye under her wing. Melinda only hoped it wouldn’t irreparably change the younger woman for the worst. It would be easier if Skye still had Coulson to go to on those occasions when she needed emotional guidance.

Most things would be easier if Melinda could still count on Coulson’s cool competency. There was a reason she followed his lead instead of the other way around. Her having his back was a matter of course; her having to hide his steady descent into madness was a little more troublesome than she’d anticipated.

But Coulson and his new hobby were not the issue at the moment. Skye was. And damned if Melinda wasn’t sure how to handle her.

She lay there trying to sleep for another few minutes, hoping the white noise of the base’s rattling air conditioning might lull her past her troubled thoughts, but to no avail. She sighed, bit back a curse, and reached for her phone, dialing a number she’d memorized years ago. Melinda wasn’t even sure if Natasha was still using this particular burner after the fall of SHIELD but it was more likely to be successful than any of her issued comms. It wasn’t like Natasha would pick up even if she did have the phone, but that wasn’t the point as such.

The point was that Melinda needed to call, no matter how weak it made her feel. That was the point—allowing herself a weakness. For all she knew, that might, in time, be her key to understanding her new student.

The phone rang in her ear over and over, eventually going to a voicemail box that wasn’t set up. Melinda shrugged to herself and hung up. She set the phone down on her chest, trying to dredge up the energy to lean over to replace it on the side table. She stifled a scowl; there wasn’t anyone around to see it, so what was the point of the expression anyway?

She was about to force herself to replace the phone and switch off her light when the phone rang without warning, an unknown number flashing across the screen. Melinda picked up and was glad to hear the familiar, if mildly annoyed voice on the other end.

“I wondered when you’d finally decide to call me. How are the remnants of SHIELD?” Natasha said softly.

“As well as can be expected. It’d be better if you came in, but—” Melinda continued quickly, knowing Natasha well enough that a retort would have been forth coming otherwise, “I know why you can’t.”

“You would,” Natasha replied softly, sounding at least a little mollified. “So to what do I owe the pleasure of this call to?”

“I wanted your advice about an agent I’m… mentoring.”

“Color me shocked. You usually have Coulson as your moral compass.”

Melinda fell silent for a moment, part of her wishing she still had Coulson in that role. She might again, she knew, but for now Natasha was the one she trusted with this.

Natasha spoke into the silence, asking the question Melinda should have expected. “So how is Coulson? Still pretending he’s dead, I take it?”

“You know why he hasn’t surfaced yet.” She didn’t answer the question about Coulson’s condition; Melinda had a feeling Natasha already knew near as much as she did. It was like the Widow to keep the pulse of all of her people, even the ones supposedly already lacking said pulse.

“I do. The others wouldn’t, but that’s on them.” Natasha paused. “Clint might have, but…” She trailed off. It wasn’t like her to avoid a subject, but Melinda didn’t press her. They were both protecting old partners with their silence; they knew not to ask any further. It was another one of the reasons she’d called Natasha instead of say, her mother.

“Skye killed today for the first time. She did it in cold blood in the middle of an op.” Melinda let out a breath after she’d spoken, feeling her stomach twist again. She didn’t bother to explain who Skye was; if Natasha didn’t know already, she’d find out quicker than Melinda could read out her protégé’s dossier.

“Was it a clean kill?” Natasha asked, tone flat to hide her opinion just yet. “A shot you would have taken?”

“It was. We’d have lost an undercover if she hadn’t.” It was the truth, Melinda reminded herself. If it had been someone else in Skye’s place, another agent with the same level of training, they’d have done the same thing. Hell, another agent might have missed.

“But it’s the killing that bothers you?” Natasha mused, working through the dilemma absently. “Was it that out of character for this Skye?”

“It was… Or it used to be.” That was the rub. Even with her tutelage, Melinda somehow couldn’t picture Skye taking a life. It just seemed unnatural for the bright and hopeful young woman she’d met a bare year ago.

Natasha didn’t speak for a long moment, the quiet somehow soothing despite Melinda’s impatience for her old friend’s opinion. When the other woman did speak, her voice over the line was surprisingly gentle. “Melinda. People change. It’s not your place to question it. Or to try to stop it.”

“I know, but—”

“No butts other than the nice pair we’ve got.”

Melinda smothered a groan at the pun. Typical Natasha pulling such a sad joke out of the air. She could all but hear the redhead’s tiny smirk.

“Honestly though,” Natasha continued, her voice serious once more, “if you really want my opinion, you’ve done the right thing. Did she ask for the training?”

“Yes, she did.”

“Does she _need_ the training?”

Melinda thought about the chaos and danger they all were facing now with Hydra loose and SHIELD all but a fragment of the powerhouse it once was. “Yes, she does.”

“Then who she becomes, who you help her grow to be… That’s her choice. You’re just helping her make that choice a reality.”

Melinda opened her mouth to speak again but closed it just as quickly. Choice was not a subject Natasha took lightly. The chance for someone to decide their own identity? That, Natasha would always support.

“You’re not wrong.” Melinda replied softly.

“Am I ever?” Natasha teased back.

The phone went silent then, and Melinda didn’t need to check the screen to know her friend had signed off.

It wasn’t like either of them were fond of goodbyes.  


End file.
